Appeal for help

A Chairde,


Alisa Winterdal is a little girl suffering from brain damage. Until the age of four she was fully trilingual, lively, musical child. At present, after a serious infection, being in a coma and suffering lack of oxygen then, she is highly hyperactive, epileptic and she has fully lost her speech.

For the last four years her mother has been trying to get the needed medical treatment for her, in four different countries, but was unable to do so, mainly due to lack of finances. Now, thanks to the kindness of the Cuban authorities, Alisa has got the opportunity to get her medical treatment for free in one of the world's best neurological clinics in Cuba.

All we need is to raise the money for the tickets and stay there, approximately £ 1,500. Without this treatment Alisa will remain handicapped for the rest of her life.

She has suffered so much in her short life. Please, if you can help in any way, help us to give this child a proper future.


Oíche Ilchultúrtha do Alisa

Ceol ilghnéitheach, Fíon agus Bia ag 3D (Bialann Gaelach), 3 Sráid Dásain, BÁC 2 ar an Aoine, 16 Samhain, 7pm - 9 p.m.

Ticéidí £5 ar fáil ó: Siopa Connolly Books, 43 Sr. Essex Thoir, BÁC. Ionad Buail Isteach Teil: 087-6662903

Á eagrú ag Ionad Buail Isteach na Gaeilge


Cris Ní Choisdealbha

Holy Cross Euro protest welcome

A Chairde,


The decision of Mary Banotti MEP to raise the issue of the sectarian protest against children in Holycross School Belfast in the European Parliament is to be very much welcomed (Irish Times, 6 November). It is essential that this protest is ended - yesterday would not be soon enough.

The indications are that the loyalist protestors are settling in for the long haul. As Father Troy of Holy Cross said: "We have to be very careful that we are not settling for an acceptable level of protest because there is no acceptable level of protest against children."

According to the Irish Times report, the sectarian protestors said they are using the newly formed Loyalist Commission for advice on tactics: "they have been giving us a lot of support, a lot of advice on how to proceed". Since this Loyalist Commission comprises members of Protestant churches and unionist politicians (in addition to members of loyalist paramilitary organisations), it is incumbent on these persons to distance themselves from this sectarian protest and to condemn it without reservation. Consistent condemnation and progressive isolation within their own community on the issue of the protest is the only way in which these protesters will get the message that the protest is totally unacceptable. Whatever other issues exist in relation to social depravation can be addressed sympathetically but completely separately from this reactionary protest.

There is a moral imperative at work here in relation to leading members of protestant churches and the unionist community. To be seen to be associated with „support‰ for and „advice‰ to the protesters is a disaster from every civilised point of view.

There is currently a danger that such persons may become associated (even if by omission) with the ongoing persecution of little children.


Anne Speed,
Cabra,
Dublin 7

TDs have failed Holy Cross children

A Chairde,


I had the privilege to be invited to a meeting in Wexford's Talbot Hotel last Saturday morning. A number of parents from the Ardoyne area of Belfast had travelled to the southeast on a whistlestop tour.

The four parents, whose children attend the Holy Cross Catholic girls school came to Wexford to highlight the continuing sectarian blockade organised by UDA loyalist paramilitaries. They had wanted to meet members of the press to convey to them the true nature of the abuse of human rights that has occurred against children and parents alike in Ardoyne over the last eight weeks.

It was intended to be an informal affair, without pomp and ceremony, and so we used the lobby of the Talbot. After the introductions and so on, the parents started to relate their stories. They told how the were being stretched to breaking point, how they daily had their lives threatened by the UDA within earshot of lines of RUC men and women . Not one of these UDA men or women has been arrested, in spite of such a heavy RUC presence. The parents spoke of the various tactics being used by those who have organised the blockade:

The balloons filled with urine raining down on young children;

The pornographic pictures being held up in front of the young children by women in the blockading group;

The enlarged photographs of the parents (taken by the UDA) with their names and addresses attached;

The horrific nature of the foul-mouthed abuse aimed at four-year-old children, calling them whores and indeed other unprintable names, which would leave even a hardened street wise person horrified.

Each of the parents in turn told of their own personal pain at having to go through this sectarian festival four times every day. They also expressed a very normal human reaction, anger at the lack of action by all those who could stop this horror in one stroke. Anger at the fact that no TDs are lining up to take a child by the hand to walk into this cauldron of hate, anger at the fact that many of the self-styled crusading journalists are nowhere to be seen, preferring instead to hug the heat of a cosy office and do their story over the phone.

We had intended to keep the gathering to a minimum of seven or eight people, including the press. Things did not quiet work out as planned. We started with the six or seven and ended up with close on twenty. Even photographers (very busy people) remained on to listen to the tale of a human horror and tragedy that is now Ardoyne.


John Dwyer,

New Ross UDC,

Co. Wexford,

Minute's silence in Sligo

A Chairde,


At our October General Purposes meeting, following a proposal from myself, the elected members of Sligo Corporation stood and observed a minute's silence in honour of and in solidarity with the innocent men, women and children who were and continue to be slaughtered by the US and British military assault on the Afghan people.

This bombing campaign, which has resulted in Red Cross and United Nations aid centres, hospitals, schools and residential areas being destroyed, is in violation of international law and should be stopped immediately. While the killing of civilians intensifies, the US and Britain are also laying the foundations for further civilian casualties as they drop thousands of cluster bombs throughout Afghanistan, many of which will not explode on impact, but at some later date when disturbed by civilians as happened in Kosovo. Indeed, the Red Cross have reported that 151 people were killed in the 12 months following the Kosovo air strikes in this manner.

I now ask all local authorities to also show their solidarity with these innocent Afghan civilians currently being slaughtered by observing a minute's silence as Sligo Corporation has done. More importantly, however, I would earnestly urge all elected representatives to make public their opposition to this war at every possible opportunity and to play an active role in the many anti-war events being organised nationwide. As public representatives, we all have a duty to show leadership and to do all we can to bring these atrocities to an end.


Cllr Arthur Gibbons
Sinn Féin
Sligo Corporation

Silence on Afghanistan

A Chairde,


It seems strange, with all the controversy in relation to the politically motivated advertising of Fianna Fáil, that the Minister of Foreign Affairs seems strangely quiet with regard to the current crisis in Afghanistan.

The daily coverage of the situation would provide an ideal opportunity to make a statement on the matter and increasing your profile, I would have thought. But the sight of hospitals and aid centres being destroyed and innocent children and their parents being killed would make it problematic, I would imagine.

The Minister need not mind too much about his deafening silence, the opposition are following his example. It would be hard to make political capital when the population is divided on the issue. To have an opinion, one way or the other would at the very least show that elections were not the only considerations politicians liked to advertise.


Pádraig Mac Fionnlaig
Finglas
Dublin 11